Supreme Court Rules: Mojave Cross Will Stay

by Aimee Herd : Apr 29, 2010 : Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow.com

"Here one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion. It evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles—battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten." -Justice Kennedy

A long-term battle over a Mojave war memorial has finally come to an end with the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Wednesday that the cross can stay. (AP Photo/Liberty Legal Institute, Henry and Wanda Sandoz)

According to the OneNewsNow report, the high court ruled that the lower federal courts had "gone too far" in ordering the removal of the cross, since they had not sufficiently taken into account the fact that the government land had been transferred to private ownership to avoid Constitutional debate.

Brad Dacus, an attorney with the Pacific Justice Institute commented on the Supreme Court decision noting, "The fact that that [land transfer] did occur is such that this court was correct in that you can't have a federal endorsement if the land is not federal property any longer—and that's what this case hinged on."

The cross had been erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars some 75 years ago as a memorial in a remote area of the Mojave National Preserve. Pending a final ruling, it had been boxed up with plywood so no one could see its form. (Photo: ABC News)

In his decision to retain the cross, Supreme Court Justice Kennedy wrote, "Here one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion. It evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles—battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten."

   

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